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TG Fired Because She Transitions
Contributed by Bobby G
via GenderPac
August 11, 1998
CAMBRIDGE, MA - Transgender woman Allie Lye was fired from her
job at Sky Publishing Company in Cambridge because of her gender
expression. She has filed suit against her employer for violating a city
ordinance that protects transgender employees and a state law that forbids
sexual discrimination.
She began transitioning on the job in May, with her supervisor's
support and the good-will of her co-workers. A month into her transition, her
supervisor left the company. Two days later, her new supervisor called her
into the personnel office and told her to stop dressing in women's clothes
or she would be fired.
She was told that her appearance was offensive to employees and
customers,a claim she found disingenuous because her duties never put her in contact
with customers and she got on well with co-workers. (Some even commended
her courage, some her appearance). She filed a complaint with the
Cambridge Human Rights Commission (HRC). The HRC contacted Sky Publishing
who adamantly refused to negotiate, saying the ordinance is
unconstitutional.
Ms. Lye was told to work as a man until she had Sexual Reassignment
Surgery (SRS). She could then dress as a woman. She declined, saying that
she had no intention of having SRS; and, if she did intend SRS, she would
have to live as a woman for 1-2 years before she could have the operation.
On 24 July 98 she was fired, for insubordination. Her chances for
judicial redress are not immediately promising. For defying the city ordinance, Sky
is liable for only a $300 fine. And it could take nine months for her case
to reach the Mass. Commission Against Discrimination.
Commented transactivist Nancy Nangeroni of Cambridge, "This is a
clear-cut case of both transphobia and blatant disregard for local jurisdiction and
basic human rights. The company is presenting a mean-spirited face in
terminating a productive and well-liked employee simply for her gender
expression... This kind of conduct is egregious behavior for any business
and should not be tolerated."
Peru TS Fails in Elex Bid
Contributed by Rachelle Austin and Elizabeth Parker
via Reuters
August 25, 1998
LIMA (Reuters) - A high-profile transsexual failed Tuesday
to change Peru's traditionally macho image as an election body
blocked her candidacy for local office, saying she counted on
too little grass-roots support to stand.
But Fulvia Celica, a clairvoyant turned TV presenter turned
woman, was in prestigious company -- Peru's National Election
Board also halted President Alberto Fujimori's former wife from
a candidacy for the mayor of Lima for the same reason.
Celica, claiming she was the victim of a dirty tricks
campaign that blocked her bid for a minor mayorship in Lima's
middle-class district of Jesus Maria, vowed to fulfill her
political ambitions and run for Congress in 2000.
``Right from the beginning it was difficult for me because
the election board invented obstacles, saying they were unsure
if I were a man or a woman,'' she told Reuters.
Celica, who predicts Peruvians' futures on a local
television show, presented almost 2,800 signatures of people
supporting her candidacy -- 500 above the requirement to stand.
The election body said only 135 were valid.
``I'm staying calm for now. But if they say I committed
fraud, then I -- an irreproachable woman -- will resort to
presenting my case to the top human rights courts,'' said
Celica, who suggested municipal workers destroyed her campaign
propaganda.
Fujimori's former wife, Susana Higuchi, had also planned to
run in Peru's Oct. 11 municipal polls as a candidate for mayor
of Lima -- but the election body said she gathered barely a
fifth of the required signatures.
The decision derailed the former first lady's political
ambitions yet again. She was ruled out of the 1995 presidential
elections, when she hoped to run against Fujimori, because the
elections board said her links to her former husband made her
ineligible. The couple divorced in 1996.
Mexican TS Seeks Canadian Asylum
Contributed by Elizabeth Parker and Rachelle Austin
via GAIN Remailer
August 24, 1998
Canadian officials stopped deportation proceedings for immigration violations
against Mexican transsexual Luis Ezequiel Manzo Chavez, also known as "Shadmith"
or "Shameif," to allow her to argue that her life would be endangered if she returned
to her homeland. Manzo has been held in a detention center in Malton since
appearing at Pearson airport for deportation late August 17 dressed as a woman.
Officials ordered a psychiatric assessment, and a hearing scheduled for August 24
was delayed to August 27 to enable Manzo to obtain counsel.
Miqqi Alicia Gilbert, who has been supporting Manzo's bid for asylum, reports that
Manzo has been living in Toronto for 3-1/2 years, where her work as a counselor
and activist has won her popularity and admiration in the transgender community.
Manzo also recently held a two-bride wedding ceremony with her partner Crystal.
Mexican diplomat Alfonso Nieto, stationed in Ottawa, publicly denied Manzo's claims
of danger in Mexico, saying, "There are many transvestites in Mexico. It's illegal in
Mexico to discriminate," adding that those who feel they have experienced
discrimination can file a complaint with Mexico's human rights commission. Nieto
continued, "What he's saying is false and just a story. Sounds like a good excuse for
him to try and stay here.... I don't believe he'll face any problems at home.... People
can behave as they want in Mexico. It's very easy to say these things to try and stay
here."
However, earlier this month Mexico's Citizen Commission Against Homophobic Hate
Crimes distributed a report to the Spanish and European Parliaments citing the
assassinations of 125 gays "with viciousness and extreme violence" since April 1995.
In May, "Proceso" magazine reported increasing numbers of Mexican gays seeking
asylum in the U.S., leading Deputy David Sanchez Comacho to tell the Mexico City
council that, "Arbitrary discrimination, exclusion and segregation against
homosexuals and lesbians affects all facets of their lives, from the family, in which
they suffer the first rejection, to social repudiation ... including police extortion,
raids on gay gathering spots, beatings, firings, being kicked out of rented housing
due to the stigmatization of which they are the object, on up to unpunished
murders."
Sanchez Comacho's PRD (Democratic Revolutionary Party) went on to hold
a pioneering conference in Mexico City in May to look at legal reforms to protect the
rights of lesbigay and transgendered people. There journalist Carlos Bonfil said, "In
the history of Mexico, homosexuals have been burned alive, systematically morally
lynched, disowned by their families, fired from their jobs, imprisoned, banished
from their hometowns ... excommunicated and murdered -- solely for the crime of
their sexual orientation."
TG Bat Mitzvah
Contributed by Elizabeth Parker
via NewsPlanet
August 15, 1998
In Woodstock, New York transsexual Rachel Pollack celebrated her bat mitzvah
on August 15, 40 years after having a bar mitzvah at the traditional age
of 13. She was joined in the coming-of-age ceremony by her family and
friends (including transsexual performance artist and author Kate
Bornstein), and by the Woodstock Jewish Congregation and its folk-singing
Rabbi Jonathan Kligler, who said, "We are blessed when special people come
to join us, bringing their unique gifts, because we gain and grow from
those gifts."
After Rachel's gender reassignment surgery in the 1970's,
she recited a traditional prayer of Orthodox Jewish men, "Blessed is God,
who has not made me a woman," and added, "Double blessed is Dr. Lamaker,
who has."
Brazilian TGs Protest Abuse, Murders
Contributed by Elizabeth Parker
via GAIN Remailer
August 26, 1998
Brazil's Grupo Gay da Bahia and the local Salvador Transvestites
Association have staged protests of assaults against two transvestite sex
workers by four Salvador military police officers. The police reportedly
humiliated and tortured the cross-dressers, forcing them to strip off
their clothes and jump into the sea on August 4, resulting in the death of
one. The other, known as Joyce, along with Salvador Transvestites
Association president Lena Oxxa, believe their lives are in danger, and
are said to be under the protection of human rights groups. The
demonstrations resulted in the arrest and discharge of the four
perpetrators, but not of their lieutenant. Grupo Gay da Bahia's continuing
documentation of murders of gays and transgenders in Brazil has reached
1,600 for the period 1980 - 1997, with only 5% ever resulting in a trial.
Study Finds Women Prefer Feminine Faces
Contributed by Bobby G
via Associated Press
August 26, 1998
Given a choice between a dewy-looking Leonardo DiCaprio type and a rugged
Sean Connery sort of guy, women may be naturally attracted to the man with
the more feminine face, researchers say.
Scottish psychologists studying sexual behavior report that women tend to
prefer the faces of men with more feminine features because they are
perceived as gentler and more trustworthy.
The researchers theorize that this preference is not just a 1990s concept
of beauty but something that is hardwired into us by evolutton: Evolution
has seen to it that women choose men who are likely to be more loyal mates
and better fathers to their children.
"We speculate that the preference has been around for a long time," said
lan Penton-Voak of the University of St. Andrews in Fife, Scotland. "If
you look at the evolutionary record, we've moved from a more robust form
to a more gracile form as a speces" in overall features.
The report is published in today's issue of the journal Nature. In
separate experiments in Scotland and Japan, researchers created a
composite "average" face for a man and a woman from about 30 digital
photos. The faces then were altered at key points, including the eyes,
lips, noses and eyebroves, to make them more feminine or more masculine.
Ninety-two volunteers -- college students and stafl members, ages 18 to
44,including 44 women -- were asked to rate the faces according to such
factors as warmth, emtionalaty, honesty, intelligence and dominance. Both
men and women preferred more feminine faces.
The researchers said the results also reflect the natural tendency to
favor youth when seeking a mate. The masculine faces tended to look older
to the volunteers, even though the photo composites were identical in age.
The study expands on earlier work by Lori Roggman of Utah State
Uni versity and Judith Langlois at the University of Texas, whose 1990
study sugested that a computer combination of "average" facial features
produces the most attractive face. Roggman and Langlois said the new
research doesn t necessarily conflict with theirs.
"In the real world, people would find both Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean
Connery attractive. You have to use some common sense about this,"
Langlois said.
Roggrnan suggested that the latest findings may reflect "simple social
pressure at a time in human history when we can afford the luxury of sweet
men."
Estrogen Makes Men Sexy
Contributed by Dale Carlson
via Discovery Channel Online News
August 26, 1998
So you thought it was testosterone that makes a
man of the '90s sexy? Maybe not. It may actually
be estrogen that attracts women, according to a
just-published study.
The male sex hormone testosterone increases
muscle bulk and, in evolutionary theory, is
associated with a male's reproductive success.
But, maybe not with modern women, reports
David Perrett of the University of St. Andrews in
Scotland and colleagues in the current issue of the
journal Nature.
Perrett's assertion is the result of a study in which
people were shown computer generated images
of male and female faces, morphed to embellish
male or female characteristics. Both sexes said
feminine facial characteristics were the most
physically attractive in the opposite sex.
Highly masculinized faces were associated with
negative behaviors and were said to look
"colder," "less kind" and "less cooperative" than
the feminized images.
Men and women's faces are shaped by hormonal
changes at puberty. Testosterone causes the
development of facial hair, a larger jaw and heavy
brow in men, while in women, estrogen makes the
skin softer, the lips fuller and suppresses bone
growth in the jaw and brow.
Over the course of millions of years, women's
preference for feminine looking males may help
explain the biological trend toward a more
feminine look in the species as a whole, Perrett
says.
But his results are controversial.
"Preferences are culturally determined not
biologically driven," says Dane Archer, a
specialist in non-verbal communication at the
University of California, Santa Cruz. "Physical
attraction plays a big role in the first stages of
courtship, but after that other factors like values,
beliefs and personal traits become important."
"Nothing is really feminine or masculine in a face,
except for the facial hair," says Dahlia Zaidel, a
professor of psychology at University of
California, Los Angeles.
NY County Exec May Favor TG Protection
Contributed by Elizabeth Parker
via NewsPlanet
August 26, 1998
Onondaga County, New York Executive Nicholas Pirro surprised many with a
letter to county legislators August 21 saying that he would not veto an
amendment adding actual or perceived sexual preference as a protected
category under the county's Fair Labor Practices Act, which legislators
had approved by 13 - 11 early this month. The measure treats housing
rights and public accommodations as well as job rights. While saying he
had no problem with the concept, Pirro had previously indicated concerns
for enforcement, particularly since it didn't match up with a 1990
Syracuse city ordinance, and for a legislative process which had offered
limited opportunity for public input.
Pirro himself held a public hearing on the measure on August 17 attended
by some 40 local residents. Although most spoke in support of the measure,
a representative of the Manufacturers Association of Central New York
expressed alarm at "more intrusive local or county government" on top of
the state's high costs, high taxes and "complex regulatory environment."
Notable among supporters of the measure were members of the gay and
lesbian civil rights groups Stonewall Committee and Central New York
Diversity, and of the Central New York chapter of the American Civil
Liberties Union.
Pirro's August 21 letter said, "The underlying concept of this local law
is to protect our citizens from discrimination, and thus, is a good one.
As we prepare ourselves and our community for the challenges of the new
millennium, ensuring the rights of our citizens to fully participate in
community life is an appropriate action of government." Calling the law
beneficial, Pirro indicated it should only be problematic for those who
practice discrimination.
Syracuse's 20-year-old transgender group EON, Inc. had protested earlier
that the bill spoke only to "sexual preference" and not to gender
expression; EON estimates that at least 37% of the gay and lesbian
community are also considered "gender diverse." The version of the bill
which they had been urged to support in the course of the preceding eight
years had featured more inclusive language. EON had been joined in
expressing this concern to the legislature by members of P-FLAG (Parents,
Friends and Families of Lesbians and Gays), Transsexual Menace, and the
Fair Practices Task Force. The Stonewall Committee's Bonnie Strunk had
suggested at that time that the gender expression clause might stall the
bill, and said it was preferable to have the more limited version enacted
than to have no protections at all. (A similar dialog once took place at
the national level between transgender lobbyists and the Human Rights
Campaign with respect to the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act,
which shows no sign of moving forward now despite having become two years
ago the first gay and lesbian civil rights measure ever to be heard on the
floor of the U.S. Senate.)
New York state law does not include civil rights protections from sexual
orientation-based discrimination (despite some 25 years of lobbying) and
does not apply to private employers, as the county measure will.
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